Utica Tour Includes History of 1835 Mobbing
On October 21, 1835, six hundred New York State abolitionists convened in Utica NY to form the New York State Antislavery Society. However, the delegates were threatened by a mob led by Congressman Samuel Beardsley. Gerrit Smith invited the abolitionists to Peterboro to hold the meeting safely.Through the night 400 of the men traveled to Peterboro to form the New York State Antislavery Society on October 22.
At 4 pm on Friday, October 10th Jan DeAmicis and Mary Hayes Gordon, Co-Chairs of the Oneida County Freedom Trail, will provide a one hour, one mile tour of Underground Railroad and abolition sites in Utica – including the history of the Utica mob that forced the 600 abolitionists to leave Utica.
Interested persons meet with DeAmicis and Gordon at 120 Bleeker Street (Legal Aid Office) across the street from the Utica Resource Center for Refugees and next to the Centro Bus facility where there are restrooms. There are several places to eat or snack at the final stop on the tour and several restaurants nearby.
The Utica mob history is followed the next day in Canastota on the “brink of the canal” where 104 of the delegates got off the barge that was hired in Utica to get away from the mob. An account of the walk from Canastota to Peterboro was written by abolitionist James Caleb Jackson. For the fourth year the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, which is located in the building where that inaugural meeting of NYS Antislavery Society was held, invites folks to participate in a state trooper escorted walk (or ride) where the abolitionists traveled at the beginning of their walk to Peterboro. Five descendants of Jackson
will join the walk this year in honor of their great, great, grandfather James Caleb Jackson.
Information, registrations, and sponsorships: http://www.AbolitionRoad.org. Registrants receive a long-sleeved tee shirt with the Abolition Walk logo. The first 104 students who register to walk are free.
National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum
PO Box 55 5255 Pleasant Valley Peterboro NY 13134
NAHOFm1835@gmail.com http://www.NationalAbolitionHallofFameandMuseum.org 315.308.1890
